Was thinking about this the other day when watching Independence Day on TV: What moments in movies that you saw in theaters inspired the audience to cheer or clap?
Worth mentioning, I feel like this has become a lot more commonplace in recent years, especially with comic book movies. Like, I can recall a dozen such moments from The Dark Knight (magic trick) or Infinity War (Thor’s arrival) as examples, but part of my experience attributes these more to the atmosphere as a whole, seeing them in fanboy-packed theaters on opening weekends when it’s fully expected. As much fun as they were, they sort of don’t stick out to me as much as these individual ones below. Obviously, your mileage may vary.
Independence Day: As referenced above… “Welcome to Earth”, preceded by Will Smith punching out the alien. I specifically remember one guy getting it started by yelling “YEAHHHH!” and then most of the theater joined in with cheering/clapping. No similar reactions for the President’s speech though, or anything else after.
Air Force One: “Get off my plane”, and then Harrison Ford pushes Gary Oldman out of said plane.
Truman Show: Truman exiting through the studio door. I will say this one was probably more like half the theater clapping, not as excited as the previous entries above.
Superman Returns: Only mentioning this due to the movie’s poor reputation, which makes this instance surprising in hindsight. I ended up seeing this opening night, presumably with fanboys I guess, but when the end credits started to roll, there was full applause. I didn’t hate the movie, so I didn’t think it was too crazy at the time.
Worth mentioning, I feel like this has become a lot more commonplace in recent years, especially with comic book movies. Like, I can recall a dozen such moments from The Dark Knight (magic trick) or Infinity War (Thor’s arrival) as examples, but part of my experience attributes these more to the atmosphere as a whole, seeing them in fanboy-packed theaters on opening weekends when it’s fully expected. As much fun as they were, they sort of don’t stick out to me as much as these individual ones below. Obviously, your mileage may vary.
Independence Day: As referenced above… “Welcome to Earth”, preceded by Will Smith punching out the alien. I specifically remember one guy getting it started by yelling “YEAHHHH!” and then most of the theater joined in with cheering/clapping. No similar reactions for the President’s speech though, or anything else after.
Air Force One: “Get off my plane”, and then Harrison Ford pushes Gary Oldman out of said plane.
Truman Show: Truman exiting through the studio door. I will say this one was probably more like half the theater clapping, not as excited as the previous entries above.
Superman Returns: Only mentioning this due to the movie’s poor reputation, which makes this instance surprising in hindsight. I ended up seeing this opening night, presumably with fanboys I guess, but when the end credits started to roll, there was full applause. I didn’t hate the movie, so I didn’t think it was too crazy at the time.
